The rain is gone and We were going stir crazy at the office so we packed the studio and visited old friend Josh Hamilton, GM of a classic downtown Raleigh craft beer staple.

This week Chip perfectly proportions the news starting with a piece from Eater that questions how beer lines are still a thing? Bloomberg goes very in depth on why you may be seeing a lot more of your favorite local beers becoming available in cans. We have good news for literary leaning craft beer aficionados in the Indianapolis area.  CNN takes us to the far East with news on ancient Chinese secret beer recipes. Do you live in Britain and want to keep your bartender honest? Food and Wine is last up in the news and they will tell you how!

We didn’t have to reach far across the bar for a heaping helping of new and cellared beers. We try the straight out of the brite tank Ballast Point unfiltered Sculpin. Coronado is back with the first installment of the stem to stern series of limited brews. Josh poured us a rare treat with the Great Divide Strawberry Rhubarb. To cap it all off We opened Josh’s autographed bottle of the show favorite Rodenbach Caractere Rouge

This week we announce our latest #caskcontest: Send us your most creative picture of a Sierra Pale Ale and the winner will receive two tickets to the Beer Camp festival in Raleigh June 17th!  Entries are due by May 31st. 

We also have a new #caskquiz: How many beers do you think you’ve tried?

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

CBC was great for Jenn & Tony, all the more so because they got to speak with Dr. Michael Lewis, the legendary trainer of brewers for decades! You get to listen in! Then we try the some of the latest great brews including Southbound Desert Dawn, Foothills Terrain IPA, and Wicked Weed Arcanic!

Plus there’s news! We start off with The New York Times op-ed by Jim Koch asking is it last call for craft beer? Next is The LA Times offering a way to get your non-crafty friends to ease into craft beer via coffee, tea and cocktail-inspired beers in disguise, then Heat Street reports that the Brewers Association has announced that ‘sexist and lewd’ craft Beers can no longer receive their awards, and we wind up with The Daily Meal revealing that an all-female craft beer festival Is coming to Florida!

This week we have our final submissions for this month’s #caskcontest:  Give us your best comic book themed beer name and you could name our next brew!  Entries due by April 19th. And we have a new #caskquiz for this week: what beer did you use to get someone into craft beer?

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

We have an amazing San Diego treat this week - AleSmith is in the house thanks to our friend Matt Dakan! Matt joins us to talk up cans! And we are so stoked to test and taste .394, IPA, and the astounding Speedway Stout, all in cans!

Before that deliciousness we have your news! First up is KPIX (CBS San Francisco) shining a light on big beer trying to open a beer garden in Oakland, followed by Forbes’ opinion that  craft beer needs more diversity and growth. Next up is The Federalist describing what green beer from the French Alps tastes like and we wind up with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asking beer with breakfast?

This week we continue accepting submissions for this month’s  #caskcontest:  Give us your best comic book themed beer name and you could name our next brew!  Entries due by April 19th. Plus, inspired by the news item we have a classic #casquiz to return to: what’s the cereal you want to have infused in your beer and what style of brew?

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!

The bar is open this week to welcome our friend Brandon Foglio from the pride of San Francisco, Anchor Brewing! Brandon shares the latest news from the brewery while tasting the all-new and delicious Blackberry Daze IPA!

Spanning the globe, we bring you the news and start in China with Fortune on China’s new craftbeer bully, followed by Aol which has found a brewer who names her beers after her awful dates. Next up we have CNN and our continuing coverage of inflight beers, and we close the week with Tasting Table’s take on Cap'n Crunch infused ale!

This week we continue accepting submissions for this month’s  #caskcontest:  Give us your best comic book themed beer name and you could name our next brew!  Entries due by April 19th. Plus, inspired by the news item we have a classic #casquiz to return to: what’s the cereal you want to have infused in your beer!

We so love hearing from you! Please send in feedback and beer suggestions by calling us at (919) 502-0280, Tweeting us, following our Instagram or friending us on Untappd, posting on and liking our Facebook page, or emailing us! And please rate & review us in iTunes or Stitcher if you haven’t done so!